Against

MailWasher Pro looks clean and is easy to navigate, but it’s a little tricky to set up.

Image 2 of 9

MailWasher Pro works on both Android and iOS cell phones.

Image 3 of 9

Your friends list is automatically whitelisted when you use MailWasher Pro.

Image 4 of 9

The tools are located at the top of MailWasher Pro, but there is also an expandable menu on right side of the view screen with the same list.

Image 5 of 9

In MailWasher Pro, spam messages are highlighted red, while good messages are green.

Image 6 of 9

You can choose to have MailWasher Pro automatically delete the message or bounce back with a reply to the sender when you receive an email from a specific email address.

Image 7 of 9

MailWasher Pro learns your preferences and starts blocking messages based on what you open and delete, without you having to mark them as spam.

Image 8 of 9

You can set MailWasher Pro’s Bayesian filter to recognize more sophisticated messages.

Image 9 of 9

MailWasher Pro connects to public spam lists and reports newly found spammers to these databases.

MailWasher Pro is an effective, reliable spam filter that works on desktop computers and mobile devices. It’s one of only two antispam programs we looked at that are compatible with both Android and iOS cell phones and tablets. It doubles as your email client, so your free email accounts, such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, forward to it – not only does it block spam, but it also lets you view messages from all your accounts in one spot. MailWasher Pro also works in Outlook and other paid email services that include a desktop email client. You can purchase this spam filter outright for under $40, which is about average for this type of software.

This antispam software has a friends list and a block list. When you import contacts, MailWasher recognizes them as safe and automatically adds them to the friends list. You can set up a whitelist with email addresses that may register as spam but you want to receive notices from such as those used by Facebook, eBay or your favorite blogger.

When messages first come through MailWasher, it highlights those it knows are good in green – all others are marked in red. However, you can look at the list and designate each message as good or bad, and future emails from those senders will automatically redirect to the correct folder from then on out. Spam is placed in the recycle bin rather than deleted right away. This gives you the chance to look through filtered messages in case you accidentally marked one as spam.

This spam filtering program has a Bayesian filter, so it can detect messages that use your name. It also recognizes phishing emails that look like they’re from a legitimate company you deal with, for example your cable company or the IRS. The Bayesian filter picks up on language, special characters and trick names spammers often hide in phishing emails. It also compares the sender’s email address to the name or company in the message’s signature – if they don’t match, MailWasher Pro tags the email as spam and directs it away from your inbox.

In addition, the program uses non-intrusive tools to learn your email habits. As you open, read and delete messages, it learns which you want to see and which it should redirect to the recycle folder.

MailWasher Pro filters messages based on criteria like IP address, sender and attachment type, and it references public block lists. The program’s biggest drawback is it can’t block messages based on country of origin. This is a problem since certain countries have high concentrations of spammers. If you want this type of filter, consider Avast for Windows and Android devices or SpamSieve for Mac computers, iPhones and iPads.

In case you need help setting up MailWasher Pro, there are a lot of user guides and video tutorials on its website. You can also reach out to other users in the community forums. MailWasher offers telephone support through its developer, Firetrust.

MailWasher Pro is a standalone spam filter program that doesn’t integrate with your email accounts, instead acting as its own email client your other accounts redirect to. Messages are color-coded as they come in, so you know which are good and which to look at closer. This antispam program is compatible with both Android and iOS cell phones and tablets and has a Bayesian filter, so it recognizes more sophisticated messages targeting you.